HOUSTON - For the better part of a decade a "dark cloud" of potential criminality has hung squarely over the head of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the form of three felony counts of securities fraud.
Ken Paxton's defense attorney explained, "18 months from now or perhaps shorter this case will be dismissed. There will never be a conviction. Ken Paxton at least today, he can go back and do what he should have been doing all along, which is representing the state of Texas."
This week - that "lingering threat" of removal from office and possible prison time . . . simply melted away, in a courtroom deal....many view as a judicial bullet dodged...by the once embattled Attorney General
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Ken Paxton avoids conviction in securities fraud case
Ken Paxton's legal saga takes an unexpected turn as the threat of conviction fades away in a courtroom deal, leaving him free to resume representing Texas after settling with special prosecutors
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In a settlement brokered with special prosecutors, Paxton agreed to a pre-trial intervention contract otherwise known as "diversion"... The terms of which include 100 hours of community service, 15 hours of ethics training, and most significantly, the payment of at least $271, 000 in restitution.
Special Prosecutor Brian Wice : "Restitution first and foremost that was a game changer. Second, community service like any other defendant . . . The question isn't who won, but was justice served? And I think the answer to that is unmistakably yes."
7 months ago Ken Paxton was facing removal from office via impeachment - and up to 99 years in prison on the fraud charges. Instead - our state's controversial "top cop" has now survived both threats and has emerged more powerful than ever.
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Ken Paxton's defense claims political targeting
Connell echoes Trump's playbook, casting Paxton as a political target turned conservative martyr, boosting his standing among Texas Republicans. What's next for Paxton? entire Houston area.
Defense lawyer Dan Cogdell contending his client Attorney General Ken Paxton was targeted for production for purely political purposes.
Sound familiar?
It is the same narrative we've heard over-and-over from Ken Paxton’s ally and supporter Donald J. Trump.
A strategy that's proven enormously successful for the former president...and has exponentially enhanced Paxton’s standing among many republicans in the Lone Star State...for whom he has morphed from "ethically challenged outlier" to "full-blown conservative martyr".
The political winds are clearly behind Paxton’s back - what next?